Do you own points and weeks?

[mshatty Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close mshatty]

Yup, which is fine with me.

My point was I am not buying at that resort because of the high MF/1K cost - but am buying with the points needed to stay there in mind.

This could be where the weeks system has points beat.
As a Marriott owner - with the current week to week trading, a week owner in Williamsburg can still trade into Aruba or Hawaii or SoCal with their "old" week. But Marriott uses II as their 'internal trade company' so there are additional fees involved (II yearly fee and exchange fee) that most of the points systems have built into their MF structure.

Isn't there some sort of trading power issue in your example? Isn't true that not all weeks at one Marriott resort are equal to another week at another Marriott resort. Are you saying in your example that a low season Williamsburg Marriott week will get a high demand week at the Marriott Aruba?

My impression is that there are limitations among Marriott resorts as far as what "season" you own and what you can get.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Isn't there some sort of trading power issue in your example? Isn't true that not all weeks at one Marriott resort are equal to another week at another Marriott resort. Are you saying in your example that a low season Williamsburg Marriott week will get a high demand week at the Marriott Aruba?

My impression is that there are limitations among Marriott resorts as far as what "season" you own and what you can get.

Yes there is but I was thinking 'like for like'
A Platinum (high season) week at Williamsburg will trade into other Marriotts during Plat time.
100% of the time, no, because there are factors involved with when u make your request, but even in a point system u still have the availability factor; you can theoretically reserve but if there are no reservatins left, you can't!

[swilshire Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close swilshire]

We were told this weekend that Points was the wave of the future and that more and more resorts were changing out of the weeks program.
If you own both-- Which program do you like best?
Do you feel you get the same value from Points that you do with weeks.

My DH feels that his weeks contract Guarantees him 7 days for the rest of his life... where in 5 years his points might get him 3 days...

I own both and like them equally. Sometimes I get a better deal in Points. Sometimes with a Weeks deposit.

As for your DH's concern, if you buy points backed up by deeded property, it is unlikely that his fears will come to pass. If you buy points in a system where you just own points and not real estate, then he may be right.

Sheila

[wpwj40e Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wpwj40e]

We own both and bought them recently(last year). Last year we decided to purchase some timeshare - kinda like ...oh...need to go grocery shopping Anyways - did about 6 months of research and we decided that we wanted a mixture of points and a weeks system. However we wanted the week to be with a resort or series of resorts that we could "drive" to and one that allowed split time. (3/4 nite stays).

We went through a similar analysis as to which point system we wanted - and then factored in how much we wanted to pay (capital - up front cost) and expense (annual MF's, fees RCI etc, Taxes). We set a budget for those numbers and identified the minimum time we wanted to have as a result of our budget. (Worse case scenario - 1 week of points - will only get 1 week etc)

Then once we decided upon the systems we wanted to get into - using the above factors - researched them extensively and identified what we wanted to pay - as each systems has its own ins and outs.

Ultimatley we ended up meeting about 85% of what we wanted to achieve. The missing 15% - is because one of the systems changed the rules on us and what I thought was an RCI affiliation ended up being II - I have yet to join II and have been able to move that week into an independent exchange system. We will see how that goes.

Another factor was I wanted a certain amount of points - but could not locate those with the approrpiate MF factor. I bid upon or made offers on almost 70 different properties unil I finally got one close. Right MF factor - but lower in points than I had originally wanted. And the last factor is that we had originally set out to only pick a point system where the actual unit was deeded and with a home resport we would use in worst case. Well....when it finally came to buying - really focused on the MF cost as that is recurring and hence the home resort is one that we would be unlikely to ever use - although not out of the question.

So even with all the careful analysis - research - budgeting etc - we still did not meet 100% of our goals. We are still pretty happy with the results.

So the very long answer to your question - is to examine what your uses will be - now and in the next 5 years - how and when you will use - what kinds of things you like to do and where - budgets etc. After doing this it should be pretty clear to you whether points, a week or combo will suit your needs best. WHat is important is that you purchase something you know you will use and enjoy!!!

Sorry for the long read!

Therese

[happymum Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close happymum]

Therese, your post made me smile, because it is how I wish I did my purchasing.
It sounds so sensible and deliberate, well-planned and decisive.
We fell into our first purchase (a South African week) at the suggestion of friends, over a few glasses of wine. The next few were e-bay trigger finger mistakes, totally unplanned and the last few have been freebies that the resort was giving away.
Some day, I hope to make a well-researched purchase.

[wpwj40e Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wpwj40e]

Happy....Well I probably left out the trigger

We "almost" fell into a week 'cause it was in a location and had a few other non TS related factors that led us to an "almost" retail purchase. You have heard of TS sales where they keep you there for hours....Well we KEPT THEM there for hours while we pondered why the heck we were gonna make this financial investment on a "whim" so to speak. It really clarified for us what we wanted to do....the irony here is that they sold us on Timeshare.....just not through them and via retail

But it took signing a contract after 11 hours on site (I was not kidding!!!!) and us rescinding the next am - for us to realize that we needed to do this more deliberatley

And I have been close with the ebay twitchy fingers - fortunately I use auto bidding (will not allow myself to touch the auction once engaged!!!) and am VERY CHEAP....parting with anything over 19.99 requires thought!

Although today there is a Wyndham SG with low MF, decent points at 1.00 - oh so tempting - but I am not allowed until I can show how we can use our "2/3 weeks" that has turned into 7weeks via OBC analysis. And somehow I want a cruise in the mix - now i need 9 weeks annually of vacation Oh and the 7 weeks was because of "using" the system - not because we purchased more than our original!

Therese

[M. Henley Class President Find all posts View Profile Close M. Henley]

Began with Weeks...then...

I began with the weeks system, purchasing too many, selling off two, etc. Then I converted one week to RCI Points, bought two Australia weeks and had them converted to Points, kept my SA week as a week because it wouldn't convert, and kept two weeks to use yearly.
Was very satisfied with the Points, the SA week, two weeks that we always use (Florida oceanfront), and life in general.
Then... got the bug... and was elected as State Representative. After that I have had to use Points for our airline tickets to England twice, just to keep from losing them.
As I am not making a career out of the Legislature, things will, before too long, be back to normal where I can use my points for exchange and use them up for that yearly, rather than having to utilize Points for airfare.
The mix is a good one. Two weeks used yearly, the SA week will trade for weeks that would cost more points than it would bring if I paid them to take it in for Points (if one is careful about trades), one week that I sometimes take as my Home Week (another Florida oceanfront), and the Points that allow me to add three or four extra days on to a weeks stay if we are going, say, to California.
All in all, I have been satisfied with my weeks and Points mix.